Shocking Love of Christmas

“We are such bad creatures at loving that we need the shock of joy, just as we need the shock of pain, to set our love free.  And that is why we need to come again and again to this sacrament (Eucharist) to have our shells- our selfish habits and our self-obsession- broken open in the remembrance of the horror of Jesus’ betrayal and the glory of Jesus’ resurrection. Our love needs to be set free, to be pierced and shocked into action.”

This piece is excerpted from a Christmas homily set in the context of the Second Shepherd’s Play, concerning the gifts we have to bring to God’s Son. The ABC (Archbishop of Canterbury), is reflecting on the arbitrariness of the gifts of the shepherds (a pack of cherries, a bird, and a tennis ball) juxtaposed against the gifts of God in creation and in his Son. However, it is through giving out of a sense of joy, rather than debt, that we share in God’s ‘redeeming and recreating love’.  God does not need our gifts, but he receives them so that our love may be set free by the ‘unimaginable flowing forth of joy (in the Trinity), generosity, and compassion… and all we can do is expose ourselves to the shock of it.’

Rowan Williams, A Ray of Darkness, (24).